Learning about Honey in Food Storage
Throughout history, honey has been considered a food with unparalleled nutritional and physical benefits. For over 10,000 years (and maybe more) honey has been used as a staple food and as a medicine. This deliciously sweet substance is one of the few foods that can actually sustain human life all by itself. If you’re not already storing honey as part of your food storage, you should really reconsider.
Honey lasts almost forever; if stored properly you will never need to worry about your honey going bad. There was actually edible honey discovered in the pharaoh’s tomb in Egypt.
Storing honey is easy. Simply keep it in a cool location away from direct sunlight in a tightly covered container. Around 75° F is the ideal storage temperature. It is not necessary to refrigerate honey. In fact, it's much easier to handle if you don't.
Do not be alarmed if stored honey becomes cloudy. This is called crystallization. It is not harmful nor is it any indication of deterioration. In fact, honey has an indefinite shelf-life thanks to its high concentration of sugar. Raw honey with high pollen content will crystallize even faster, and cold temperatures also cause crystals. Crystallized honey is one of the many forms intentionally produced for purchase by many beekeepers.
If your honey crystallizes, you can easily re-liquify it by gently heating the jar in a pan of hot water, stirring while heating. Do not overheat or boil honey as heat may alter flavor and color as a result of carmelization of the sugars and destroys beneficial enzymes. Some will place it in a sunny spot in your home. This can also liquefy your honey.
Honey provides a boost to your immune system that refined sugars won’t. Natural honey (raw honey) have enzymes that are beneficial for the immune system, digestive system, contains vitamins and minerals, and is an antioxidant. Other uses reported for honey are: skin treatment, antibacterial salve, wound treatment, treats sore throats, stomach aches and colitis and helps with insomnia.
Note: Do not feed honey to babies under 1 year of age--it may cause infant botulism.
Honey can be used whenever you have a recipe that calls for sugar. Since honey is more concentrated than sugar use approximately 3/4 cup honey for every cup of sugar called for in any recipe. You may substitute up to half of the sugar called for without needing to make any other adjustments to the recipe. If substituting more than half of the sugar with honey, reduce the amount of liquid called for by one-quarter. Using honey also gives a sweeter taste to the foods you are eating.
When buying honey, there are many types available and labeling is not well regulated. Listed below are the honey types I've found and their differences. Try them out and select what works well with your family!
Types Of Honey Available
- Comb Honey (honeycomb) is unprocessed. Direct from the hive honey-filled beeswax comb as stored naturally by the bees.
- Raw honey is unprocessed. It is honey as it exists in the beehive or as obtained by extraction, settling or straining without adding heat (pasteurization). Raw honey contains some pollen and may contain small particles of wax. Raw honey comes out of the comb and go into the bottle: it is one of the purest foods on the table. Local raw honey is sought after by allergy sufferers as the pollen impurities are thought to lessen the sensitivity to hay fever.
- Ultrafiltered honey is processed by very fine filtration under high pressure to remove all extraneous solids and pollen grains. Ultrafiltered honey is very clear and has a longer shelf life, because it crystallizes more slowly. Preferred by the supermarket trade.
- Strained honey or filtered honey has been passed through a mesh filter to remove particles (pieces of wax, e.g.) without removing pollen. It has a cloudy appearance due to the included pollen, and tends to crystallize more quickly than ultrafiltered honey. Popular with health food buyers.
- Varietal or monofloral honey comes from a single flower, e.g. orange blossom, lavender, sage. In addition to the flavor of the honey, it will express secondary flavor characteristics of the lavender, sage, raspberry, et al, and the better honeys will have complex flavors as well. The opposite of varietal honey is blended honey.
- Blended honey is a combination of honey from different floral sources—e.g. alfalfa, wildflowers, clover. Blending is done with the more commonly available and less distinctly flavored honeys to create a common denominator flavor profile for mass-merchandising. The result tends to be “sweet” and “honey” without any other flavor characteristic. The opposite of blended honey is varietal honey.
- Pasteurized honey. Supermarket honey is often pasteurized to help prevent crystallization on the shelf. Crystallization is not harmful; the crystals will dissolve in the microwave (heat for 30 seconds) or in a pan of hot water (10 to 15 minutes). Pasteurization in honey reduces the moisture level, destroys yeast cells, and liquefies crystals in the honey. While this process sterilizes the honey and improves shelf-life, it has some disadvantages. The heat also affects appearance, taste, and fragrance. Heat processing can also darken the natural honey color.
- Ultrasonicated honey is honey that has been processed by ultrasonication, a non-thermal processing alternative for honey. When honey is exposed to ultrasonication, most of the yeast cells are destroyed. Yeast cells that survive sonication generally lose their ability to grow. This reduces the rate of honey fermentation substantially. Ultrasonication also eliminates existing crystals and inhibits further crystallization in honey. Ultrasonically aided liquefaction can work at substantially lower temperatures of approx. 35 °C and can reduce liquefaction time to less than 30 seconds.
- Whipped Honey, also called creamed honey, spun honey, churned honey, candied honey, and honey fondant, is honey that has been processed to control crystallization. Whipped honey contains a large number of small crystals in the honey. The small crystals prevent the formation of larger crystals that can occur in unprocessed honey. The processing also produces a honey with a smooth spreadable consistency.
I hope you have learned a little more about honey. I sure have. Best wishes!
